By JP VIEIRA
Coming in on a 2-game win streak, the Harvard women’s basketball team was hoping for a hat trick in their home game this week against Quinnipiac. In an extremely close game, which saw both teams playing in double overtime, Harvard led Quinnipiac 32-30 at the end of the first half. As the second half began, Harvard tried to pull away multiple times, but Quinnipiac stayed in the game. Down the final stretch, Harvard gave up their lead, but managed to send the game to overtime with a buzzer-beating shot from captain Madeline Raster. The first overtime almost ended on a 3 point lead to Harvard with seconds left on the clock, but Quinnipiac managed to score a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to send the game into a second overtime.
Ultimately, in the second overtime, Quinnipiac managed to pull away from Harvard and win the game by 5. Junior Katie Benzan finished with 27 points and 6 assists. Despite their loss, Harvard shot better from the field compared to the Bobcats (42.9% compared to 35.6%). The Crimson cleaned up the glass with 50 rebounds, while holding the Bobcats to 35 rebounds. Ultimately, Harvard’s downfall was in their turnovers (24) and bench points (only 5 compared to Quinnipiac’s 34 bench points). Harvard looks to bounce back as they host UMaine on Tuesday, December 4th.
Lost Shots: Men’s Basketball
After a four-game road trip in which the Crimson went 2-2, Harvard returned to Cambridge as they hosted Holy Cross. The game was neck and neck from the start until half way through the first half when the Crimson ran rampant in a 13-4 run over Holy Cross, taking a commanding lead of 11 points with them into the half. In the second half, the Crusaders began to take back the court, and although Harvard led Holy Cross by as much as 19 points at times, both teams scored 33 points in the second half. Harvard ultimately won the game 73-62. Freshman Noah Kirkwood scored a career-high 20 points, leading the way for the Crimson in their home victory. Harvard also cleaned up the glass, out-rebounding Holy Cross 40-21, leading to 13 second-chance points compared to Holy Cross’ 0 second-chance points. However, Harvard should look to keep their turnovers down as they turned the ball over 19 times during the game. Had the Crimson not shot 52.8% from the field, the turnovers could have come back to haunt them later in this game. Nonetheless, Harvard looked to build off their momentum as they played at Siena on December 1st.
Coming into a game at Siena on December 1st, riding a 2-game win streak, Harvard were narrowly defeated 67-64. Harvard started off strong with a quick 7-2 lead, but Siena kept up and went into the half leading the Crimson 27-22. In the second half, Siena seemed like they were going to blow the game wide open with a 13-point lead, but Harvard showed resilience and grit as they went on a run of their own to pull back within three points in the final seconds. Unfortunately, the last second 3-pointer didn’t fall, but for all that the team showed great determination in working together, nearly pushing the game to overtime. Overall, Harvard’s downfall was their turnovers. In such a close game, any turnover is crucial, and the Crimson turned the ball over 15 times compared to Siena’s 9 turnovers. These turnovers led to 13 points off turnovers for Siena, while the Crimson could only claim 8 out of the 9 points off turnovers. Harvard men’s basketball continues their season by playing away at Vermont on Saturday, in what should prove to be an interesting matchup as the Crimson gets back into gear.
JP Vieira (jpieira@college.harvard.edu) looks forward to watching both teams rebound with resilience.